Guest Post: The Yemen Underwear Bomb and Other Hobgoblins

Today it was widely reported that the CIA thwarted a “plot by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb.” This bomb, which was to be concealed in a pair of underwear, was designed as an improvement over what Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to use to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day of 2009. This bomb was upgraded and designed to specifically avoid metal detectors.

At first glance it would appear to be a job well done by the world’s leading domestic affairs meddlers.

But like all of these instances, it was routinely denied “there was ever any immediate threat to the public.” It was also revealed that:

The bomb plot had allegedly advanced to the point that a would-be suicide bomber was told to buy a ticket on the airliner of his choosing and decide the timing of the attack. It’s not immediately clear what happened to the would-be bomber.

It would seem that what the CIA recovered was essentially just a crudely made bomb. The supposed bomber was nowhere to be found. There is no evidence presented as to a real threat or plan to use it.

The truth was finally revealed as the would-be bomber was, in fact, a double agent of the CIA.

When considering the nature of the state, this new instance of government supported terrorism is unsurprisingly comparable to previous cases.

Looking back at the original underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the mainstream narrative nowhere matches the disturbing details. Not only was Abdulmutallab’s explosive device determined not to be functional but, according to undersecretary for management at the State Department Patrick Kennedy, his visa wasn’t confiscated and he was given access to the airplane for the purposes of conducting further investigation. This came at the request of federal counterterrorism officials.

As former Assistant Secretary to the U.S. Treasury and acclaimed commentator Paul Craig Roberts documents in regards to attempted terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001:

If we look around for the terror that the police state and a decade of war has allegedly protected us from, the terror is hard to find. Except for 9/11 itself, assuming we accept the government’s improbable conspiracy theory explanation, there have been no terror attacks on the US. Indeed, as RT pointed out on August 23, 2011, an investigative program at the University of California discovered that the domestic “terror plots” hyped in the media were plotted by FBI agents.

For example, the Washington DC Metro bombing plot, the New York city subway plot, the plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago were all FBI brainchilds organized and managed by FBI agents.

RT reports that only three plots might have been independent of the FBI, but as none of the three worked they obviously were not the work of such a professional terror organization as Al Qaeda is purported to be. The Times Square car bomb didn’t blow up, and apparently could not have.

Think now about the airliner shoe-bomb plot, the shampoo-bottled water plot, and the underwear-bomb plot. Experts, other than the whores hired by the US government, say that these plots are nonsensical. The “shoe bomb” and “underwear bomb” were colored fireworks powders incapable of blowing up a tin can. The liquid bomb, allegedly mixed up in an airliner toilet room, has been dismissed by experts as fantasy.

Just this past May Day, the FBI reportedly foiled an attempted bombing of a bridge near Cleveland. But like many instances of domestic terrorism, this operation was aided and facilitated by the FBI itself. On cue, authorities assured the public it “was never in any danger.”

Far from having their liberty secured, the American public is being lulled into a sense of infant dependency from engineered threats from abroad and at home.

The art of governing can be broken down into two easy steps: scare the citizenry into capitulation with manufactured threats and legislate yourself increasing amounts of power.

With the illusion of monsters from foreign countries breathing down their necks, those infatuated with “national defense” as some unworldly savior are more than willing to bow down and submit themselves to having their privacy torn to shreds for the feeling of security. They are no better than children who wrap themselves in a blanket for fear of an unknown boogeyman. The corporate media, never letting an opportunity of state worship go to waste, vets out the reports of threats with little if any vigor. The Associated Press actually found out about the newly “foiled” underwear bomb threat last week but submitted to White House demands to hold off on reporting the story. After all, there is too much money at stake to not buddy up with Washington and keep a frightened populace spoon-fed with false delusions.

The danger in such juvenile acceptance of war propaganda is the creeping hand of despotism that must emerge. For if the public is lead to believe danger lurks in every shadow of the world, it will demand greater and greater protection from exactly those who salivate at the chance to provide it. From the Patriot Act to the National Defense Authorization Act, private correspondence and due process have been casually tossed aside for the promise of safety. This vicious cycle is reinforced by contrived instances of impending doom. The ruling class creates them and then feeds off the panic.

Even Bush administration spokesman Ari Fleischer admitted that “fake” terror alerts were used in 2002 to quell growing criticism amongst the public and particular Congressmen.

The famous Randolph Bourne quote “war is the health of the state” is often invoked as a simple dictum to demonstrate the irrefutable connection between government usurpations of authority and organized combat on a massive, industrialized scale. Almost any respectable writer, historian, or economist will cite the phrase when addressing the topic of warfare. That’s because in just seven plain words the mentality and violent temperament of those who sit at the state’s controls are defined so explicitly, it completely disrobes the glory and prestige too often associated with bloodthirsty crusades of patriotism.

Murray Rothbard recognized the underlying immorality of the government’s war machine complex when he wrote:

It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute domination over the economy and the society. Society becomes a herd, seeking to kill its alleged enemies, rooting out and suppressing all dissent from the official war effort, happily betraying truth for the supposed public interest. Society becomes an armed camp, with the values and the morale—as Albert Jay Nock once phrased it—of an “army on the march.”

The alleged Yemen “underwear” bomber was just another fabricated spook in the long line of mounting justifications to keep the war on terror and its profiteers going; no matter the cost. As long as the American people are still easily whipped into a frenzy over forged menaces from afar, their blood and treasure will go on to be squandered on military boondoggles and redundant intelligence agencies. War and fear end up becoming a way of life. And so does the state’s command over what could be a life of peace and tranquility for the nation it supposedly protects.

This isn’t conspiracy theory; just a recognition of the various hobgoblins, as H.L. Mencken described them, invented to justify encroaching totalitarianism.

James E. Miller holds a BS in public administration with a minor in business from Shippensburg University, PA. He is the chief blogger at the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada and a current contributor to his hometown newspaper, the Middletown Press and Journal.

What an absolutely disgraceful article. That this is allowed on ZH is a joke.

The undercover agent managed to infiltrate the terror group, steal their new explosive device, and reveal the plotters. How the author through lies and distortion manages to twist this into a negative is a mystery.

You can insult me all you want, but this operation is exactly how the US should proceed going forward, instead of thousands of troops on the ground forever.

Focus on building effective intelligence, use informants and infiltrators effectively, then destroy the terrorists with drone strikes or such.

This operation managed to disrupt a dangerous terrorist cell, acquire the new explosive device made by their expert bombmaker, and kill high-ranking Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso. Total fucking win.

Yes the Gov/CIA/FBI/NSA/TSA are shit, but this is the wrong thing to attack them on. Attack them on the encroachment of civil liberties in America. Criticize the ridiculous TSA policies. Stop the fucking drug war. But keep killing the terrorists.

There was a slight mistake with the introductory sentence on today's report:

Today it was widely reported that the CIA concocted a “plot by al CIAda’s affiliate in Yemen to justify more x-ray machines and molesting children and grandmothers by placing another simulated baking powder bomb onboard a U.S.-bound airliner.”

This is how it went down. Contrary to what you would think, the left hand of the CIA doesn't really know what the right hand was doing. The left hand is trying to combat Al-Qaeda. What the left hand doesn't realize is that Al-Qaeda is merely an extension of the right hand of the CIA. Kind of like an extra pinky!

Your assumption that I blindly believe in conspiracy theories has no basis in fact whatsoever. I never alluded to such a belief system. All I said was "question everything" after which one should draw his/her own conclusion, rather than rely on what is being "reported".

Secondly, I do not understand why you are asking me for proof of anything. The burden of proof Is always with the person making an assertion. I proposed none, you did.

"The truth was finally revealed as the would-be bomber was, in fact, a double agent of the CIA."

Would you really have preferred for this new potentially undetectable bomb to not to have been intercepted?

"It would seem that what the CIA recovered was essentially just a crudely made bomb."

Oh so if I don't agree with the herd here on everything, I should leave huh?

Not at all. Intelligent commentary is appreciated. Hysterical paranoia about "them there terrists" is mocked and ridiculed. Exemplary specimens of idiocy are made to perform for our amusement. The choice is yours.

1. Yes the agent was an agent. Is there something you're missing here?

2. The claim of crudeness was unsupported by links, the actual link says:

"Intelligence officials believe the explosive is the latest effort of the group’s skilled bomb maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri [...] Unlike the device used in the unsuccessful 2009 attack, this bomb could be detonated in two ways, in case one failed, the official said. The main charge was a high-grade military explosive that “undoubtedly would have brought down an aircraft,” the official said."

You may be right in everything you say, but what credibility does the government have when it claims to have 'saved the day'? Especailly when it admits to being an active part of the plot? How do we know that they didn't help things along by providing information to the bombmaker in an effort to gain the trust of the group they wanted to infiltrate? Fast & Furious ring a bell?

I honestly hope you are right and the good guys really did win one and we have scared the shit out of the bad guys with our insiders. But you can't fault the suspicious, someone needs to hold everything this fucking government does up to scrutiny.

The majority of ZH's don't fall for the government BS and haven't for a long time. You and other assorted piss-ants can try your best to slam us, but judging by the number of negative votes you're getting, you've been ratted out. If you don't like what most of the posters are saying then LEAVE.

Being educated does not mean being informed, it means being conditionned.

It sounds like you are "educated", identify with your positions and resist considering them carefully.

Being misinformed and sceptical are not synonymous, by the way. If you deny that Al-CIAda was created and is controlled by the western terrorism-intelligence complex, then you've got some cold war history to read up on, son. Start with that before coming here to pontificate on what you think you know.

You are misinformed. and based upon your belief system you assign a value to the alleged actions of an alleged double agent in an alleged event who nobody really knows anything about, because you trust that the Times is telling you the truth.

I am skeptical, and I have seen countless events where we are told verisimilar stories. These fake stories are threaded straight into a fictional veil that is woven right in our faces to hide real history from us. When you look closely, though, you can see through the loose weave, and you learn that it's all smoke and mirrors. The threads of the veil don't really fit together, but at least their truthiness makes you think they do.

I've learned that, and I don't automatically assign arbitrary authority to the newspapers that are integral part of the matrix architects. It's funny that you think not believing everything I hear makes me a prime mental health patient, or that it means I believe in conspiracy theories. Quite to the contrary, I don't "believe" in much per say except, maybe spiritual truths condensed out of my experience. You, on the other hand, are the one who believes in conspiracy theory - the megacorps have marinated every aspect of your life in it, and you have swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

It is healthy to be open to views contrary to our own - so you don't get stuck in a rut.
As you state this mission was executed lick clockwork - I find that somewhat suspicious. The problem is that there is reason to not trust our government. They have motive. But maybe it transpire exactly as nyt described.

Even though my excessive # of posts should out-weigh my credibilty, I read recently, that for the psychopathic fucks out there, they should be taking full advantage of the bullion weight imbalances if they are trading with sleeple at the moment. . . gravity speaking...big moons and such.

Consider the profits if you are moving millions...billions!!... when it comes to weighing yourself in an elevator. Trade of the moment.

Apparently.

Good luck, and good night to all.

No I do not agree with this trading advice and go fuck yourself and jump off a NY bridge if you are considering it.

The creation of Al-Qaeda was facilitated by the CIA and allied intelligence networks, the purpose of which was to maintain this “database” of Mujahideen mercenaries to be used as intelligence assets to achieve US foreign policy objectives and false flag operations. These databases are held by groups like Stratford, orders come from organizations like Blackwater and supplies from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.

Did you also hear that he was wearing gold underwear to make the boom boom undetectable? And he had a silver hat, which was initially thought to be tinfoil, but was later identified as pure silver. As a result, anyone traveling with gold or silver is now instantly a suspect. Go figure.

Coincidence that Rand Paul is sponsoring a bill to rid us of the TSA? They are glad that folks like you don't even think about that.

MDB's sycophant bitch is Dr. Bengay....or you are actually a CIA "librarian" trolling on ZH and engaging in a disinformation campaign and defending the terrorist organization, the CIA by re-educating us "simpletons" with the good deeds of the cutthroats and parasites in the CIA. You must either want a lot of attention from us because you cannot find anyone to friend on facebook or fuckbook which ever it is. But, I got to give it to your parents for passing down flaw genes so that we (the Zero Hedgers) can spank your ass on the internet for all to see! Thank your parents for me (I assume you live in their basement) because they are too embarrassed to let you out in public.

----On a long enough timeline the survival rate for every dumbass drops to zero

P.S. Dr. Bengay, a teenager just whooped your ass, you cuntstain. Get the fuck off ZH you mindless prick!

" All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying."

9/11 an inside job? we'll never know but it WAS terribly convenient for a LOT of people... lots of investigations dropped in the aftermath... and funny how 3 buildings went down at the WTC when only 2 were hit....

and it's amazing how quickly the Constitution was gutted in the aftermath - a neo-con wet dream in so many ways.... The Cold War is dead - long live the War on Terror..... gotta keep the MI complex fully funded and employed....

Haha. Got any evidence that the informant "stole" the device? Or the group gave it to him to carry out a mission. They probably found out he was a spook and gave him the bomb to either carry out a mission or get lost.

All that money on counterterrorism and the only thing the CIA demonstrated is that they can acquire a device from a shady group.

Let me spell it out for you. They lost their informant. That's not a sucessful counterintelligence mission. They didn't give this guy a target or a plane ticket or even a plan. They just gave him a pair of skivvies with some explosives sewn in them and told him to have at it. Some foiled plot.

Hey, suck hole, the Baltimore Police Department can buy drugs from some guy off the street and claim they "foiled" a plot to distribute drugs. At least they stopped that dime bag!!! Or you can conclude that the police have the ability to acquire drugs. Woopdy-fucking-do.

Wow. No fewer than four oblique deaththreats in one thread... Must be Americans having a discussion here, eh?

Do all you Americans walk around in this non-stop homicidal revenge fantasy? Or is it just you guys? It's like you got a Bronson film playing in your mind all day, as you imagine killing and mutilating those that you perceived to have wronged you. No surprise you have school shootouts so often.

Honestly, how often a day do you have violent thoughts? YOU ARE FUCKING PATHOLOGICAL. But I sure as hell don't want any harm to befall you, I'd just like you to not be so maniacally homicidal.

Do all you Americans walk around in this non-stop homicidal revenge fantasy? Or is it just you guys? It's like you got a Bronson film playing in your mind all day, as you imagine killing and mutilating those that you perceived to have wronged you. No surprise you have school shootouts so often.

I take back my earlier supposition that this troll is a sockpuppet of RedneckRepugnicant or MaxFischer --- the style of prose, the sweeping blanket assumptions and accusations, the holier-than-thou-redneck sanctimonious smarmy attitude positively scream "MaxFischer".

Paul you forgot Dr. Bengay will have his mouth wrapped around the future traitor puppet President of the USSA's dick before being executed for treason. I think that enhances the mental picture and satisfaction knowing traitors and minions will be dealt with extreme prejudice.

If you really believe all the inside-job evidence, growing police state terror and banker control, what makes you think the last remaining holdouts to the true nature of the U.S. Constitution (Libertarians) will be on the winning side? Alex Jones and folks like him would be stuck on a pike outside D.C. as a warning to all who oppose the state. If the CWII starts, everyone with an account here would immediately be targeted (all that "cyberwar" capability has to have some purpose, no?). It would either be a drone watching your house and popping off a Hellfire when you walk out to shit after they've cut your power and water, or Blue Helmet Russian troops flooding your redoubt with naloxone and then shoot any stragglers.

What it wouldn't be is a gang of HS students destroying the invaders and living in the safety of the mountains shouting "Wolverines!" Not in an age where the enemy can use wide-area thermal scan drones to find you, and launch a 25lb warhead at 1.2 meters a second at you.

Now, RE the story, yea, it smacks of too-good-to-be true BS. I have no doubt it was timed to counter the recent negative stories of the TSA "protecting" us from evil 7-year old handicapped girls or 3-year old toddlers, or most certainly to discredit Dr. Paul's efforts. Still, I'd rather live in a world where someone like the "Dr" can spout his opinion without threats of death for disagreeing with the dominant opinion of this hive. Unless all the Libertarian arguments are really just a desire for control on your terms.

To the logically retarded: If the bomber was a double agent who himself brilliantly created a plan to steal top-secret underwear bombs from the bearded boogeymen, then there was no "foiled" plan to bomb US airplanes, as it was the CIA's plan all along. The fact that the CIA cooks up a plan and peddles it to the masses as a foiled threat to their lives as a means to centralize more federal power is what this article is attacking. Run along to your masters now, here is not a good place for you.

Then call it what it is. Don't call it a foiled plot. And how exactly did we "stop" them? WTF are they going to do with undies bomb 2.0 to make us any safer? Are you saying the boogeymen can't make another one? I'm guessing I've lost you.

They had plots to bomb planes. These were foiled. I agree with you that the CIA shouldn't really take credit, for the reason the agent seems to have acted pretty independently and not on the orders of the CIA. Maybe that's why he succeeded, lol.

As to the bogeymen, they certainly will not make another one after being blown to bits, LOL! What do you think happens after the agent reveals them? Come on now.

Ok, even if we were to believe somewhat the official story, it's closer to:

CIA figures it needs to heighten terror level

CIA designs plan to infiltrate mildly significant terror group, which itself is a result of historic Western Axis oppression combined with a background of the western intelligence complex injecting guerilla/terrorism materials, training and culture in the region for the last decades (thats IF, big IF, the group was not directly linked to the CIA in the first place)

CIA sends "double-agent" agitator into group which has no specific terror plan and motivates them to prepare some bombs, probably oiling up their unwillingness with large amounts of CIA dark money

CIA agent leaves group with homemade high-quality bomb to illustrate seriousness of the threat

CIA brings what should have been a top secret operation into the spotlight, harvesting the kudos, dancing along the shouts of "Please take away more of my sovereign rights and protect me from this fearful strawman!"

???

Profit!

Oh and by the way, if this was a true operation, such a top secret operation would never have been brought to the spotlight like this. What do you this the group will do upon hearing of this? No, if it was a real infiltration attempt, the guy would have been whisked away on arrival, debriefed, and action taken, not paraded around for FUD value.

By the way, FUD is not a very often used around these parts. It means Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt, which is what the MSM peddle best.

"Oh and by the way, if this was a true operation, such a top secret operation would never have been brought to the spotlight like this."

Absolutely true. This smacks of both political goals (shining knight POTUS saved us!), and agency (CIA, TSA) funding goals more than any "security." Think of all the negatives of the press releases if the gov's story is true...harder to infiltrate cells, more dangerous to double-agents, showing cells what we know so they can react.

On a positive, now the TSA will have to feel you up inside your underwear and bra now, not just the dry-hump outside the clothes technique. I call dibs on Sofia Vergara.

Although, to be fair, I wouldn't say you're confused. I'd rather say your quite single-pointed, polarizing into the unit vector of your ideology when you encounter an incompatible idea. That's how you protect your identity (because you identify with your ideology) from being "attacked" by arguments, haven't you noticed?

"Unlike the device used in the unsuccessful 2009 attack, this bomb could be detonated in two ways, in case one failed, the official said. The main charge was a high-grade military explosive that “undoubtedly would have brought down an aircraft,” the official said."

Remember, when you hear the words "War on", replace by "War of".War of drugsbrought from oversea by the CIA to corrupt the american populaceWar of terror brought about by the western intelligence complex's own designs in the middle eastSame for the war of poverty, the war of homelessness.

Don't worry, the war of propaganda has been going on for a very time, even long before Bernays made a proper scientific field out of it.

In 1914, at the annual dinner of the American Press Association, John Swinton, the editor of a well-known newspaper, was about to retire. In his retirement speech he said:

"There is no such thing as an independent press in America, if we except those of the little country towns. You know this, I know it! Not a man among you dares to utter his honest opinion. Were you to utter it, you know that it would never appear in print. . . I am paid to keep my honest opinion out of the newspaper for which I write. You too are paid for similar services. Were I to permit a single edition on the newspaper for which I write, to contain an honest opinion, my occupation . . . would be gone in less than twenty-four hours. The man who would be foolish enough to write his honest opinion would soon be walking the streets in search of another job. It is the duty of the New York journalist to lie, distort, to destroy, to revile, to toady at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country, and his race, for his daily bread, or what amounts to the same, for his salary. We are tools and vessels of the rich (International Bankers and their affiliates such as the C.F.R.) behind the scenes. We are marionettes. These men pull the strings and we dance. Our time, our talents, our lives, our capacities, are all property of these men - we are intellectual prostitutes."

6 6 6 for my sorrow and 7 7 for no tomorrow and8 8 I forget what 8 was for and 9 9 9 for a lost god and10 10 10 10 for everything everything everything everythingYou can all just kiss off into the airBehind my back I can see them stareThey'll hurt me bad but I won't mindThey'll hurt me bad they do it all the timeYeah yeah,yeah they do it all the time.

Agree. Problem is, what is "government"? It is definitely not the Brezeldent along with his muppets who are in control of the agenda. Whatever Brezeldent diverges in a material way from the interests of the invisible dirty hand, he is going to be JFKed. It is part of the spin to refer to the visible part of the swamp of concentrated interests as "the government". Control is lost to the people, believe it or not. And yes, NSA, fuck you!